Tokyo: After years of stagnation, the heiress of the yakuza arrives.

Shuangyue family.

When the entryway light came on, Shimotsuki Airi walked in with her little schoolbag on her back, changed her shoes, arranged them, and put her schoolbag away...

There was no difference from usual, except that his face became a little tense, and he changed from his usual innocent and naughty elementary school student to a serious elementary school student.

Standing behind, Shuangyue Gaoli keenly noticed this. Looking at her daughter's serious little face, she gently asked, "Aili, what would you like for dinner?"

Shimotsuki Airi looked up at her, her tone calm: "Either is fine."

Shuangyue Gaoli: "..."

Either is fine. Um, what kind of dish is this?

Also, why does it feel so cold...?

Shuangyue Gaoli subconsciously thought that her little Ai Li was probably angry about forgetting to pick someone up yesterday.

Eh...

It's all my own doing, I guess I'll just have to accept it.

Shuangyue Gaoli had a very good attitude. She admitted her mistakes, stood at attention when she was punished, and didn't say anything else. She just proved herself with her actions!

Shuangyue Gaoli rolled up her sleeves, took a deep breath, and decided to cook a big feast!

Half an hour later.

On the table.

Shimotsuki Takagi placed the soup in front of her daughter and then picked up some vegetables for her. Shimotsuki Airi slowly drank the soup with a spoon, her little face cold, as if she had already put "Takagi forgot to pick me up today" into her life's ledger.

Shuangyue Gaoli: "..."

It’s over.

After a moment's thought, Shimotsuki Takagi prepared to approach the question from another angle, asking softly, "Did Xiaoyu take good care of you today?"

Airi Shimotsuki: "It's alright."

"Not bad?" A huge question mark appeared above Shimotsuki Takari's head.

What does "okay" mean?

Are even children talking so incoherently these days?

This doesn't sound like something Ellie would say... No, she's probably still angry!

Shimotsuki Takagi nodded to herself, intending to say something, when Shimotsuki Airi spoke up quietly from the side.

"It was alright, although I was a little slow on my bike to school today, and Xiaoyu overslept a bit, but at least it's better than someone forgetting about me..."

Shuangyue Gaoli: "..."

"Ellie, Mommy was wrong, please forgive Mommy, waaaah..."

Shuangyue Gaoli clasped her hands together, looking pitiful, and begged... Secret Technique: A Mother's Pleading!

"Hmph." Shimotsuki Airi snorted lightly, raising her chin slightly in a haughty manner.

"I'm too magnanimous to hold grudges against petty people!"

Frost Moon Gao Li was overjoyed: "Thank you, Lady Airi! Mom promises she won't make this mistake again!"

Shimotsuki Airi gave another haughty snort, then took a sip of soup, paused for two seconds, and asked as if casually, "Isn't Xiaoyu coming today?"

Shuangyue Gaoli glanced at her.

"Xiaoyu has something to do today."

Shimotsuki Airi lowered her head: "Oh."

She took another small bite of food, her voice even calmer.

"I didn't intend for her to come."

"Adults are the most troublesome."

Shuangyue Gaoli: "..."

Still so proud and aloof. Hopefully, when she meets someone she likes in the future, she won't say such idealistic things. Even if she does, hopefully the other person will understand, otherwise, if they really run away, their Ellie will cry again...

Eh...

Shuangyue Gaoli nodded: "Yes, I know."

Shimotsuki Airi continued eating.

A few seconds passed.

"Where's that smelly old man?"

Shimotsuki Takari paused for a moment while holding her chopsticks.

This term has a rather narrow scope.

After all, recently, the only person that Airi seems to mention in this tone is Kuroba.

Shimotsuki Takagi's tone remained unchanged: "Kuroba-kun probably has something to do as well."

Shimotsuki Airi immediately looked up: "I didn't ask him if he was coming or not."

Shuangyue Gaoli: "Mm."

"I'm just confirming the location of dangerous individuals."

"Um."

"And that weird old man has a big black rat too, it's dangerous..."

"Um."

"I don't like smelly old men!"

"Um."

Shimotsuki Airi was silent for a while, then lowered her head and continued eating.

A while later.

"If Xiaoyu insists on bringing him along, that's not impossible."

Shuangyue Gaoli almost laughed.

In plain language... Why didn't the old man and the black rat update today?

Shuangyue Gaoli looked at her daughter's face, which was trying hard to pretend not to care, and silently made a note of it.

Airi reacted noticeably to the void left by Xiaoyu and Heiyu's brief presence in her life.

It's not a dependency.

Not yet, at least not now.

It was more like a quiet and orderly little world that was suddenly turned into chaos by two unreliable adults and a nest of rats. Overnight, the source of the chaos disappeared, but the elementary school students began to feel uneasy.

Shuangyue Gaoli slowly took a sip of soup.

After Airi falls asleep, she needs to contact Kuroba.

We need to make things clear about Ritsuko's situation beforehand.

Ritsuko-neechan is unaware that she and Kuroba-kun already know each other, and Kiyoshi is less certain, but most likely already knows...

When facing her sister's daughter, Shimotsuki Takari never underestimated her. She still remembered the first time she went to see her, she almost made her depressed.

Please stop, please stop! Auntie Xiaoqing begs you, sob sob...

After many years, we are about to have a long-awaited confrontation. Well, to put it simply, it's more like facing our fears and inner demons!

……

the other side.

After Amamiya Kaoru finished talking about her senior on the phone, Kuroba Shido stood on the street and his whole body shattered.

"What?!!"

The noise was so loud that a passing uncle almost dropped his cigarette into the drain.

"Why are you yelling so loudly..." came a somewhat resentful voice from the other end of the phone.

"It's my turn to yell now, but it'll be your turn to yell later. Uh... never mind, let's not talk about this now. Teacher, come pick me up first, we'll talk about it when we get back."

Kuroba Shido spoke with a sigh, as if he were reminiscing. As for going home... he was very familiar with the place and didn't feel like a stranger at all.

Amamiya Kaoru remained silent for two seconds.

Where are you now?

"Near the rat-infested area, walk 300 meters forward, then turn right. You'll see a signpost, and then..."

Amamiya Kaoru: "..."

Is this a maze map?

"Forget it, just send me your location, I'll drive... uh, ride my bike and come pick you up right away!"

Amamiya Kaoru was about to say she would drive, but then she realized that her car was still at her teacher's house, so she decided to just scan a shared bike on the street and go there instead.

With each ride, Amamiya Kaoru has become increasingly skilled at using shared bikes, sitting down and pedaling away!

After hanging up the phone, Shido Kuroba's eyes almost welled up with tears.

Old ox and horse.

Great.

This is what a normal teammate should be like.

Despite his foul mouth, laziness, lack of food at home, and questionable life skills, he'll still ride a shared bike to rescue people when it matters.

Human language... works well, it can be exploited.

Not long after, the bell of a shared bicycle came from the intersection.

Amamiya Kaoru rode her bike over, not wearing her school doctor's white coat, her jacket disheveled by the wind, looking like a young working woman who had just escaped from the infirmary.

"You brat!"

Kuroba Shido looked up: "Teacher!"

housekeeper!

Young Master!!!

Oops, sorry, wrong channel.

Amamiya Kaoru slammed on the brakes, catching her breath. "How on earth did you manage to offend so many people in just one day?"

Kuroba Shido said with great distress, "Teacher, what you said is too hurtful. I've been provoked the whole day."

Amamiya Kaoru glared at him: "You'd better be."

Kuroba Shido sat in the back seat, his cane resting beside his legs, and said with emotion, "Teacher, when I look at you now, I feel like you're radiating light."

Amamiya Kaoru asked warily, "Are you trying to get me to treat you to dinner?"

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

The old cows and horses have truly evolved.

I rode the shared bike wobbling towards the Amamiya Kaoru apartment.

The night breeze blew through the streets, carrying with it the aroma of barbecue stalls.

Amamiya Kaoru slowed down her pace a little.

Shido Kuroba straightened his back a little in the back seat.

Neither of them spoke.

Three seconds later.

Shido Kuroba cleared his throat: "Teacher, riding a bike on an empty stomach can easily cause low blood sugar."

Amamiya Kaoru: "Didn't you just have some tea?"

"Tea is a spiritual comfort, while barbecue skewers are a physical salvation."

Amamiya Kaoru looked at the barbecue stall: "I'll just buy a little bit."

Kuroba Shido immediately nodded: "Of course, one thing is for adults to learn self-control."

Ten minutes later.

The two of them set off again, carrying two bags of kebabs and soda.

Amamiya Kaoru was still cursing, "It's all your fault."

Kuroba Shido, with a piece of toasted bread dangling from his mouth, said, "Sensei, this is called mutual depravity."

I said I'd only buy a little.

"A little bit of grilled chicken skin, a little bit of grilled corn, a little bit of grilled bread, a little bit of soda, together they make up life."

Amamiya Kaoru: "Shut up."

Kuroba Shido watched her curse while secretly eating chicken skin, feeling a sense of peace.

Old cows and horses are good.

Unlike the Minister, who can read minds.

Unlike my senior, I didn't anticipate.

Old cows and horses are all talk and no action.

Humans say... they're easy to fool.

When I returned to the apartment, the smart lock was still quietly refusing to move.

After the battery was removed, it completely lost its soul, losing even the dignity it usually possessed as an artificially stupid being.

As the black-haired warrior passed by, he tapped on the door lock.

"Rest in peace, you stinking outsider."

Amamiya Kaoru's forehead twitched: "Don't touch my door lock!"

"Teacher, this is a personal grudge between me and it."

"If you settle another personal score, I'll hang you on the door."

The two went inside and put the skewers on the table.

The soda was opened, the bubbles burst with a pop, the roasted chicken skin sizzled with oil, and the edges of the roasted bread slices were crispy. Finally, the room felt a bit more alive.

The two ate for a while, and Kuroba Shido kept chewing while thinking about something.

"Why does it feel like something's missing?"

"What's missing? Pepper? Here it is..." Amamiya Kaoru, having finished eating, saw Kuroba Shido muttering to himself and handed him a bag of pepper.

Hmm, it doesn't seem like pepper powder. It feels like something else, like...

Kuroba Shido pondered, then his thoughts slowly drifted to the bedroom, where something seemed to be connecting the dots.

and many more……

He seemed to remember...

Big Black!!!

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

Today, he went on a huge detour from school to the rat-infested area, from the convenience store to the old apartment, from his senior's high-class gathering to the old NiuMa shared bikes, and only after returning to Amamiya Kaoru's house did he realize—

He left a family of three rats here all day.

Kuroba Shido looked at the skewers on the table.

Then he looked at his schoolbag.

I walked over, opened the backpack, and took a look...

Big Black and his wife had already fainted from hunger, while Little Black was gnawing on Big Black's tail... The filial son, as always, would attack his own father first when he was starving.

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

next second.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

"Big Black!!!"

Amamiya Kaoru was so frightened by him that she almost shoved the roasted chicken skin into her nostril.

Amamiya Kaoru: "???"